How to Make Garlic Knots from an Italian Bread Recipe
Soup was on the menu for dinner – Cream of Cauliflower to be exact. The last time I made the recipe I served the soup in a homemade bread bowl. This time I wanted another type of bread to go with my soup – I wanted to experiment and I had a taste for garlic knots. Instead of looking for a recipe I decided to try and make one up as I went along. I started with a basic Italian bread recipe from my favorite bread cookbook,(affiliate link) Secrets of a Jewish Baker and then improvised from there. I was pretty pleased with the results.
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Garlic Knots
Makes 12 – 36
Sponge
3 cups warm water
3 packages active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups bread flour
Dough
4 1/2 TBS sugar
4 1/2 TBS olive oil
3 – 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 TBS salt
For the Garlic Knots (for each set of 12)
1/4 cup flour
2 TBS unsalted butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp salt, divided
egg wash – 1 egg mixed with 1 TBS water
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS garlic powder
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Cornmeal if making loaves of Italian bread
Make the Sponge:
Add the yeast to the the warm and let sit for a few minutes
Pour in the bread flour and mix with the paddle just until well combined.
Let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Make the Dough
Stir the sponge down and add the sugar, olive oil, three cups of the flour and the salt. Mix and add as much of the remaining flour until you get a smooth dough
Replace the paddle with the dough hook and knead for 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
While the dough is rising melt the butter with 1/2 tsp salt and the minced garlic. Let it gently cook for about two minutes. Set aside to cool
Punch down the down and split into three equal portions. Roll into balls. Let rest 10 minutes.
At this point you decide if you want to make 36 garlic knots or two loaves of bread or whatever permutation you want
How to Make Garlic Knots:
Take one of the balls and roll out into a small rectangle.
Add the garlic butter to the rectangle and spread
Fold the dough like a book and then knead it until the garlic butter is well mixed in and the dough is smooth.
Add the 1/4 cup flour a bit at a time to keep the dough from being mushy
Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest for 10 minutes.
If you are going to make Italian bread punch down each ball and roll it out into a rectangle and then roll it up into a long loaf. Place it into an Italian bread pan dusted with cornmeal or let it rest on a towel to rise for until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
To shape the garlic knots:
Punch down the ball and cut it in half. Cut each half in half and then cut each quarter into thirds so that you have twelve equal sized pieces.
Roll each piece out into a long thin rope and tie it into a knot.
Place the knots on a parchment or silicone lined baking pan.
Let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes
Preheat the oven to 400°
To Make Italian Bread
For the bread loaves – cut three slices on a diagonal before baking
For the garlic knots – brush with the egg wash before baking
Bake both in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown
While the bread is baking mix the olive oil, garlic powder and salt
Remove from oven
Immediately remove the breads to a cooling rack
While still hot brush the garlic knots with the olive oil/garlic powder mixture. Remove them to a cooling rack
How Were The Garlic Knots?
I was very happy with how these came out. They had a wonderful garlicky flavor both inside and out. They were light on the inside and had just the slightest crunch on the outside. These will definitely show up again. I suspect the recipe will make delicious sandwich rolls…..I also suspect an experiment will soon be in the works. They are wonderful with salad and I know they will be good to dip into pizza sauce and of course they go very well with homemade soup.
